It’s been over two years now since Sanket Mistry graduated in electronics and electrical engineering from a Chikballapur college. But no ‘decent’ job has yet come his way. The 25-year-old has done part-time courses in networking in the interim period, and is currently pursuing a masters in digital signal processing on the weekends. During the week, he works on projects and assignments given by a healthcare firm, for “pure experience sake.” Post completion of his master’s next year, Mistry will have to go through the rigours of a job hunt, again.

“I have approached headhunters, recruiters, uploaded by resume on job portals. But nothing concrete is coming my way,” says Mistry, who felt a specialisation would perhaps help his cause.
He did get a call centre job last year for a monthly pay of Rs10,000, “but that is not really what I want to focus on. I want a job compatible with my education,” feels the Vijayanagar boy.

Likewise, Sunita Raj, a computer science graduate from the 2012 batch, is also busy job-hunting, while simultaneously doing a course in VLSI (very large scale integration). Even her job hunt has not yielded fruit. “Placements happen mostly in the top-rung colleges. We have to search for our jobs with no support from the institutes, as once we are out of college, the dormant placement cell turns its back on us,” says Raj.

The grouse of freshers is reflected in the low hiring sentiment across industries in the last few months.

“Gone are the days when jobseekers were in demand. Now, employers have the upper hand,” says Sunil Goel, director of search firm GlobalHunt India. Experts say jobs do exist, validating the various surveys which boast of a recovering job market; “but the kind of jobs some freshers expect are not something that are easily available,” says the HR official of an IT firm in the city

BPO jobs are available, since the attrition there is high. So are jobs with small IT firms, according to Kris Lakshmikanth, co-founder of search firm HeadHunters India.

Many freshers have qualms about taking up jobs for a starting monthly salary of Rs8,000-10,000, “which is a decent amount to begin with,” say recruitment experts.

“Not everyone can work with an Infosys or Microsoft. But candidates want a brand name and a hefty package in their very first attempt,” says Lakshmikanth. He adds that there is a gulf between the type of jobs candidates want, and what is available.